In the manufacture of computers and other electronic apparatus, daughter printed wiring boards (PWBs) are commonly connected to mother PWBs by means of modular electrical connectors, typically comprising a receptacle and a header. A daughter card (or PWB) electrically and mechanically connects to a receptacle, which in turn electrically and mechanically connects to a mother card (or backplane).
Modular electrical connectors of the type mentioned above are used, for example, to connect a large number of signal wires to a PWB. Consequently, a connector is provided with a number of columns of contact holes with contact pins disposed therein. An exemplary connecter is an 8.times.12 connector which has 12 columns of 8 contact holes with contact pins disposed therein.
As miniaturization becomes more prevalent, the number of signal wires to be connected to a connector increases, but the dimensions of the connector itself must not increase and preferably should even decrease. This results in an increasing number of signal and ground connections in the limited space of the connector. In high-frequency applications, this results in the risk of cross talk in the signal connections.
Accordingly, to combat the risk of cross talk due to mutual EMI of the signal connections, electrical connectors are equipped with shielding to attempt to shield each signal from EMI from neighboring and nearby signals. This shielding can be a conventional mechanical shield or an electrical shield in the form of a ground line. With today's electrical connectors, however, the current state of shielding still leaves great risk for cross talk. It is, therefore, desirable to provide an electrical connector that has enhanced shielding capabilities, yet does not significantly reduce signal density.
Stripline configurations, i.e., arrangements in which conductors in parallel in a dielectric are interposed between ground planes, are known in the art. A need exists for a way to use such configurations to reduce cross.